Why small scale family farming can save the dream.

Today it is a rainy day, and cold. This summer so far has been much colder than normal. So I thought today I would think deep thoughts and share them with you.

The dream. It is an evasive concept because it is completely subjective to the beholder. I think it is more broad than the off the shelf “American dream”. While the two hold many similarities, it would be limiting to cookie cutter yourself into the perceived American dream.

I will use my own country while trying to lay this out but the method, and thought exercises can easily be applied to the majority of countries in the world.

The basic premise, the first tenet is always the same. All humans regardless of where they were placed by their creator, long to be free. While this can be interpreted differently by different people, the general idea is the same. Freedom involves doing that which you wish, when you wish; without being curtailed, or detained in your efforts by a governing body. The only caveat that should apply here is that your freedom should not degrade or destroy the freedom of others.

The second tenet, is a little more straightforward in that it does not require the lens of social perception. The ability to trade and engage in commerce with your fellow man. Moreover it is The ability to do so without third party hijacking of the process. Be that through taxation, restrictions, or outright theft.

If a people can achieve these two tenets they can achieve near full autonomy, with little to no need for any kind of oversight save for their own.

Small scale family farming, and by extension community farming can go a long way toward guaranteeing these two essential factors.

Stay with me now, I’m going to try to put this together.

In order to get the second tenet, and gain truly free commerce between people, enough small family farms must spring up to create a new social normal. There is a critical mass in there somewhere when the towns and villages have enough small family farms to override any government protest.

On the road to this critical mass, communities can easily begin to shift away from the current methods of commerce, and into a system of barter and trade.

After the critical mass trade and barter would likely replace a large portion of what used to be needless spending on grocery store food, and products that really weren’t a need. This will curtail the ability of governing bodies to negatively impact the first tenet.

There is definitely more thought to go into this ideology, but I thought it would be good to open up to you guys, and perhaps see what you thought about this path of thinking.